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Cumbria county covers 2,627 square miles (6,888 sq km).
It consists of the old counties
of Westmorland and Cumberland plus the Furness district of Lancashire and
a little of the North Riding of Yorkshire. The rugged hills of the Lake
District are enclosed within this county, together with the surrounding
lowlands of the Solway Plain, the Eden Valley and along the shore of Morecambe
Bay. The three highest peaks of Scafell, Helvellyn and Skiddaw exceed 3,000
feet (980 metres). Sheep rearing predominates on the high ground though there
are some store cattle. Dairying is important in the valleys where hay and
fodder crops are grown. The most densely populated parts are on the coalfield
near Workington, and in the industrial town of Barrow, a
steel town with local iron-ore deposits. It has a shipyard and has made
nuclear submarines (Vickers). Workington and Whitehaven are
coalfield towns with steel and engineering industries. Kendal is a
tourist centre and makes shoes and Kendal mint cake. Other towns include
Carlisle, Penrith and Keswick, a market town, is
also an important tourist centre and is noted for its production of pencils.
Stonework, woollen garments and many other items are made locally as part of
the tourist industry and sold in shops in small towns such as Windermere,
Ambleside and Grasmere.
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